Life in the Brothers/Sisters houses

[Freedom]

Originally Posted by Ohio

The early days were much better because the "commune" movement sprung out of the Jesus people movement in the late 60's / early 70's. Brothers and sisters wanted to live together for fellowship. Once corporate living became institutionalized, there became the need to draft "Rules for Corporate Living" or other such nonsense. (Stupid people always think that more laws will solve problems.) Church kids would use the brothers' house to enjoy new found liberties while still being supported by mommy and daddy, who hoped the house would do something for junior which they could not.

The era of a non-institutionalized corporate living environment was long before my time. I presume there were still rules like no TV, but I'm guessing that they existed more as unspoken rules that everyone understood. Those who I know that have been around in the LC for a long time seem to attach some kind of spiritual connotation to forgoing "worldly" things like TV, music, etc. For those of my generation, forgoing these same things only happens through pressure and is often met with resentment.

This was exactly the experience I had in the corporate living. The rules were just rules. They didn't hold any meaning beyond being rules, and that's not to say that they should hold spiritual meaning, but without some type of concrete justification for these rules, they are purely punitive. One consideration that I had in retrospect, is that as an college student, I willingly signed an agreement to adhere to certain rules. Yes, I was an adult and no one forced me to do so. Considering the kind of rules there were; no movies, TV, dating, it all seems quite odd that I was willing to give up these things. Where else would you find adults willing to rescind their free will like that?

These days I would never dream of letting someone tell me that I can't watch TV or go see a movie. What was it that made me so happy to willingly give up the right to do those things? I can say that common sense wasn't a factor. If I had common sense, I would have known better. And I don't really see it as a matter of what rules were or weren't followed. It's the principle of it all. A church sponsored communal living situation should be for like minded people with who have common goals. The environment in which I lived was anything but that. It is for that reason that I generally feel resentful towards the environment I was in.